LEGO Group has reported a profit equivalent to just over a billion pounds for 2020 as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic kept families indoors and sparked a surge in demand for its plastic bricks.
On Wednesday, the firm reported a net profit for the year of 9.9bn Danish kroner (£1.1bn), up 19% year-on-year, while revenues climbed 13% to 43.7bn kroner (£5.4bn) amid a 21% spike in consumer sales.
LEGO said sales had grown by double digits across all of its market groups, with growth especially strong in China, the Americas, Western Europe and the Asia Pacific.
The company also highlighted the release of its Super Mario series of products, which launched in August and had become one of its “most successful theme launches” with its blend of physical bricks and digital games.
Looking ahead, the firm said it plans to accelerate its investment in digitalisation across the business, saying it will expand its digital and technology teams to support the effort.
“We are very pleased with these results. They show the timeless relevance of the LEGO brick and learning through play. This performance is also a testament to the passion, creativity and resilience of our people. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, they worked tirelessly to keep the world playing”, LEGO chief executive Niels Christiansen said in a statement.
“For the past two years we’ve made large-scale investments in initiatives designed to support long-term growth. In 2020, we began to see the benefits of these, especially in e-commerce and product innovation. We will further increase investments during the coming year with a continued focus on innovating play, our brand, digitalisation and developing an omnichannel retail network”, he added.